


Common Misconception

by dudethatsnotadude



Series: DDADDS Things [1]
Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: Agender Character, Depression, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mentions of Cancer, Mentions of surgery, Nonbinary Character, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory, Post-Canon, Pre-Poly, Trans Character, Trans Dadsona (Dream Daddy)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 17:18:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14140779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dudethatsnotadude/pseuds/dudethatsnotadude
Summary: When we moved out of the old house that Alex and I bought together, all I worried about was Amanda and work. Now that she's going off to college, I'll have to meet some people.(The parentsona (who is the POV) has Amanda. The dadsona doesn't have children.)





	Common Misconception

**Author's Note:**

> the pov, cory, uses they/them pronouns, if you couldnt tell!! hope you enjoy this incredibly self-indulgent story that i'll try to update as much as i can!!!

“Libby!” I hear a shout from the other room. I look over to the clock beside my bed, softly glowing in the dark. 3:12 AM.

“Yeah?” I call back, with a concerned lilt to my voice.

“C’mere!” she shouted.

I throw the blankets off of me, pushing myself off of my bed, not fazed in the slightest. Amanda used to call me in the middle of the night a lot: sometimes to get someone to comfort her, sometimes to get her parent to finish a bowl of popcorn with her while they watch Long Haul Paranormal Ice Road Ghost Truckers together. It was a common occurrence lately, and I hoped with bated breath that this night would be something close to the latter.

I wove through the doorway and into the living room, hoping to find her on the couch waiting for me with the aforementioned bowl of popcorn. I found the couch absent of Amanda and popcorn. Oh boy. I put on my imaginary war paint and stepped back into the hallway to Amanda’s door.

“Honey, are you OK?” I asked as I opened the door, cracking it just enough so I could see inside. Instead of seeing her on her bed, upright and crying into a pillow, I saw her sitting on it and beaming, looking around her room with her hands on her criss-crossed legs and then turning to me, bright smile still on her face.

When I took her looking at me as invitation to come inside, I was taken aback by what I saw on the walls, or, rather, what I didn’t see. 

Her posters were gone. Her lights were gone. Her beautiful photographs were gone. All I saw was her purple walls, which seemed dull without her art and her interests. I looked around and saw that her drawers were closed fully, which they never did unless they were almost empty. Her bedside table’s surface was clean. Her closet’s door was open, and I only saw the bare back of it and a few clothes hanging in the sides. Then I saw the suitcases, sitting next to the foot of her bed.

I glanced back at Amanda as she got up from her bed. “So, now that I’m going to college, you finally get to see a clean room!” She gestures to it, her eyes focusing on a corner which I haven’t seen since we moved in.

My face cracked into a smile after a second. I was still processing all of this. What this means. “I’d rather you not think that you should only clean your room when you’re moving out of the house, but I guess you take after your libby, don’t you?” She laughed. Her face lit up as she took up a clothing hanger with some clothes on it.

“Also! I coordinated my outfit for today and I think that I’ll strike fear into everyone’s hearts as soon as I come anywhere near the dorms. I aim to reign supreme by second semester.” She showed me by lifting up the colorful leggings to show me the blouse underneath it. I nodded, a little distant from the situation.

She looked at me and noticed that I wasn’t saying anything witty or something similar to the banter that we come up with on a daily basis. Amanda saved the silence by asking me, “Do you think I’ll fuck my roommate by Saturday or the next? Because I’ve been looking at Carly’s description and she seems like she would have a rockin’ bod.”

I smiled to myself and shut my eyes. “Why did you call me in here at 3 in the morning?” I opened my eyes to see her plopping down on her bed, her hand propping up her head as she lays on her side.

Amanda plays with the blanket beneath her. “I couldn’t sleep. I was too excited,” she mumbled. Sighing, I sat down beside her.

“You need that sleep, sweetie. We gotta move all of your stuff in your dorm today. If you get sleepy, I’ll have to do all the work myself.”

She made a face like she wouldn’t mind it and I playfully shoved her shoulder. Smiles came afterward. “I know! I just had so much energy that I had to focus it on something!” she said, turning over onto her back.

“God, I wish that were me,” I said gently, and Amanda gave me a look. Our mutual understanding of memes has put us in many uncomfortable situations, such as bursting out into laughter when Mr. Vega, Amanda’s high school teacher, showed the entire PTA her drawing, which consisted of a man in the “you know I had to do it to ‘em” pose. Linda Jamison, one of the kids’ parents, would forever remember me as the parent that laughed at their own daughter’s drawing and never explained it. Goodbye, Linda. I hope you have fun wondering why little Thomas laughs at some lines on the screen.

As I thought about this, I looked away and sighed. It wouldn’t be long before my little girl was off and learning without me. I’d be alone for the first time since before college, which, honestly, I don’t know if I could handle. Alex was there once I started college, and so was Craig, but before that, all I had was my family. My family just made me want to leave anyway, so I guessed that they didn’t count. I didn’t know what I’d do without Amanda. She was my pride and joy, and she was the one that helped fight off my depression. Would I relapse again? I was scared, and it had been a long time since I was scared. I dreaded that feeling.

I could feel Amanda staring at me as I sulked, and she suddenly laid a hand on my shoulder. I shut my eyes, trying to imprint the way it feels in my mind. I knew that she would call and visit and send pictures, but all of those things were never the same as waking up and making her breakfast. Going to the mall together. Waking up at 3 in the morning to watch Long Haul Paranormal Ice Road Ghost Truckers. I slouch and put my hand on my forehead.

Before I knew it, Amanda was sitting up from her bed and hugging my side. I put my arms around her and squeezed tightly.

She said into my arm, “I’m going to miss you, too, Libby.”

 

Around noon, we were moving in her furniture for Amanda and her roommate. Carly thanked us multiple times. She was a small girl, so I felt bad about the idea of letting her help. She might pass out or something.

The campus was large, as was expected from such an expensive school. Amanda looked happy, though, and that was all that was important. The dorms were tall and wide, and we had to go up to the 4th floor to get to the girls’ room, which meant we’d either have to make things fit into an elevator or suffer through taking them up 3 flights of stairs. If anything couldn’t fit, then we’d save it for last and lift them up the stairs while keeping room for other people to walk. I knew that there would be a lot of other people moving in, so I decided to not wear my crop top (so as to not embarrass Amanda on her first day) and just wore a tank top so I wouldn’t get too hot.

When we were just about to take in a desk, a pick-up with Amanda’s mattress in the back pulled up beside my tiny ass car and parked. A familiar face comes through the opened truck door.

“Hey bitches!” John shouts at us, even though Amanda and I are 10 feet away from him.

“Hello, you handsome bastard!” I shout back as he hops down onto the pavement. John and I had been best friends since middle school. We were both artists, so we got along quickly and very well. By the time we were in high school, we had realized we were both gay as fuck. We went off in our own directions, experimented a little, but we always kept touch. Soon enough, we were moving into the same neighborhood in Maple Bay, which brought us back to best friends within the time it took for us to go outside and see each other on our lawns, phones in hand.  
Amanda runs up to John as he unclipped the cord that held down the mattress. He laughed and put an arm around her. “What’s poppin’, girl?” She giggled in response.  
“John,” I called out to him, chuckling, “you don’t need to greet me and my family with ‘What’s poppin’’ every single time, especially when it’s to my daughter.” He shook his head and walked around to the back of the truck, popping the trunk.

“Cory, we have had this conversation several times and I need to remind you that, yes, I do.” I laughed and watched him and Amanda slide the mattress off of the bed of the truck. John wore some jeans and some T-shirt with a band on it that I wasn’t even sure he knew about. His combat boots looked similar to mine, but they had spikes on the heel strip, which made him look a lot cooler than he was. He seemed to be buffer and hairier (and hotter) than he was as a kid. A stark contrast to the short, spindly kid with long hair I used to know. His transition went so well after he had to move out of his dad’s house and get away from his sister, while I got to start before I even turned 18. I felt lucky, even if my experience with transitioning was much more difficult medically with my hormone disorder. I just wished he had a better support system.

I decided on taking a few lamps instead of the desk, as it was a two person job. “Thanks for bringing her bed, by the way.” As they both passed, carrying the mattress, I whispered, “I love you, John.”

Amanda peeked out from behind the edge of it and screamed, “Libby, that’s gay!”

“Panda, you gotta understand something,” John said to her, “if you wanna hang with the best of them, you have to be able to handle how gay they’re going to be. It’s just them facts.” 

I got lost in thought for a second. Even though we’ve always been platonic partners 4 lyfe, I always thought that he would be a good romantic partner once he got his shit together, which was around the time he moved out of his dad’s house and finally went to therapy. However, he had always been really uncomfortable with the idea of relationships when he was a kid. I hadn’t asked about it recently, since I didn’t even know how I felt about him. It seemed like all of the relationships I had been in were not as fulfilling as I had hoped, and I was scared of disappointing John with my hope that I could be his partner. I just didn’t want to end up realizing I didn’t like him after all. I didn’t want to hurt him.

Suddenly, I heard Amanda call for me from the door to the dorm. “Libby! Could you open the door for us?” I half-jogged up to the door and just managed to open it with my pinkie, lamps still in my hands. I had to tell them the mattress wouldn’t fit in the elevator, and then they proved my ass wrong by stuffing it inside after a minute of fumbling with it. 

 

Soon enough, we were giving Amanda hugs and leaving the building. As soon as we had gotten outside, tears flooded my eyes. This was it. This was what I had been thinking about and dreading for months, and it was here, even if I never wanted it to be. I thought about Amanda and her horse phase and her first photography award. I thought about how she told me she loved me when I talked to her about her friends being assholes and gave her advice about it. I started sobbing quietly and just stood in front of the dorm in the parking lot, wiping at my eyes.

John turned to face me when he didn’t see my shadow following him, and he immediately came right up to me, hugging me tightly. “I know,” he said, smoothing over my hair, “I’m sorry, Cory. Let’s go home, OK?” I nodded while still crying, and he took my hand to lead me to my car.

I slid my tank strap across my face and let him open the passenger’s seat door for me. “What about your truck?” I asked reservedly. 

“Bitch, I’ll go get it later. Just get in.” I obeyed and ducked my head as I shimmy inside, trying to silence myself from crying too hard.

I couldn’t focus as he swung into the driver’s seat; I just kept thinking about my daughter leaving and never coming back. Me sitting in the living room alone when John was out on trips every month or so. Me getting depressed as I think about how much I could’ve done better. Me thinking about dying…

And then I was sobbing again. I took my face in my hands and just started bawling, so embarrassed of how I was acting in front of my friend. He just put his arm around me instead of driving. I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to go back to that dark place. 

But John just held me, and I clung onto him, a migraine starting to form in my forehead from all of the crying. He spoke quietly about how I would be fine and he’d stay with me tonight. I thanked him over and over until he asked me a question.

“Do you mind if I start driving back?” he inquired gently, and I sighed shakily.

“I don’t mind.” He responded by taking away his arms and starting up my car. I slinked back into my seat, the weight of a headache pressing on my head. “Do you mind if I talk about it?”  
Backing out of the space, he told me to vent to him if I wanted to.

I sighed again and put a hand to my face. “I don’t want to get depressed again. I’m gonna get so lonely without her.”

John put the car in drive and we both went out through the entrance. “Cory, I’ll hang out with you if you feel lonely.”

“Amanda’s my daughter, John. I make breakfast for her and give her parent advice. It’s not the same with you.”

There was a moment of silence before he shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind somebody making me breakfast and giving me parental advice.” I smiled a little through my pained expression.

“You know it’s different. I just…” I rubbed my eyes to keep the tears from forming. “I don’t have anymore friends beside you. I don’t know how to keep myself busy except for work, and I don’t think I could handle just doing work and nothing else.”

He drew back his lips, and his eyes focused on the road as we started driving onto the highway. “I mean, you don’t really go out much anyway. Why don’t you try to meet some new people? You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I think it would help.”

I slipped out of my seat more, groaning in discomfort just thinking about interaction. “I’ll just die. It’s easier that way.” John laughed a bit, but he gave me a look of sympathy.

“I know, man.” He glanced back at the road. “Maybe if you just put yourself out there, then you wouldn’t have any time to get depressed.”

My hand left my face so I could give him a sideways glare. “Are you trying to tell me to get a boyfriend?” He blew a raspberry in amusement.

“I’m your boyfriend, bitch,” he told me. He wasn’t exactly, but I had been thinking about it since we moved in the same neighborhood.

I playfully shoved him, careful not to shove him too hard, as he had full control over whether we died or not as the driver. “Bitch, I can have more than one boyfriend. I’m poly.”

“I fuckin’ knew that, Cory.” I chuckled and grew silent for a minute, still a little withdrawn from just saying goodbye to my daughter. John fidgeted in his chair, keeping his hands on the wheel.  
“You know,” he began, seeing that I was still sad, “it wouldn’t hurt to try to get some more friends. Shit, you might even meet somebody that you like more than that. I’ve been doing it, and I’ve met some other cool dads just in our cul-de-sac that I think you’d like, too.”

I watched as we got off of the interstate and started to go into small business territory. Fast food restaurants and auto part stores passed us by. “I’ll think about it.”

Soon enough, we were driving into our neighborhood and parking in the driveway. We both got out and John passed my keys to me. I looked up and saw him waving to someone, and I glimpsed in that direction, seeing a person with dreadlocks waving back as they unloaded groceries from the trunk of their car with their child. I held up my hand in greeting to them, and they waved to me, as well. John nudged me with a smirk on his face. I nudged him back.

We went inside to meet the forgiving, welcome air of home, and I immediately darted for my room. John followed on my heels, grabbing a bag of chips on the way. I assumed that it was for him, but he took off the clip and handed the bag to me once we reached my door. After returning the bag to him, we entered my room and laid down on the bed together, agreeing to put the chips on the floor. He silently positioned a pillow underneath his head and then turned over to me.

“I love you, bitch,” he mumbled, taking my hand and laying it over his chest. I told him I loved him, too. John fell asleep within minutes, myself not far behind.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find john and cory's blog at @dream-daddies-john-and-cory on tumblr! (we're sometimes nsfw btw (just like this story will be! ;)))


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